Kochi, Sep 24 An NGO on environmental conservation has sent a legal notice to the Keralam government demanding that no local body resolution regarding the Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) draft notification is portrayed as an exclusion order.
In its legal notice, the Kochi-based Animals and Nature Ethics Community (ANEC) Trust, has demanded strict legal compliance, transparency and accountability in relation to resolutions passed or proposed by Grama Panchayats concerning the ESA notification.
It said that it was not trying to prevent local communities or Grama Sabhas from expressing their legitimate concerns, but to prevent their resolutions being portrayed as orders that can alter, exclude or determine the statutory environmental status of an area.
“Any local representation must be accurately described as a representation, recommendation, objection or request to the competent authority,” it said.
It further said that if any environmentally harmful activity is ultimately found to have caused ecological damage, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, water-source damage, landslide, soil erosion or wildlife-corridor fragmentation, the legally responsible person or entity will be liable for the environmental compensation, restoration, remediation and recovery.
The liablity of compensating for the environmental damage cannot be shifted to the public exchequer, it added.
The NGO also said that elected office or official position cannot itself provide immunity where competent authorities subsequently establish unlawful expenditure, negligence, misconduct, abuse of official position, environmental violations or other statutory breaches.
Besides these, it has called for preservation of all relevant physical and electronic records, including minutes, notices, agenda, correspondence, official emails, maps, Geographic Information System (GIS) material, representations, expert reports and other decision-making records.
“The Western Ghats ESA process must therefore proceed through law, science, transparent public participation and accountable decision-making — not through representations being subsequently treated as statutory exemptions.
“The Trust will continue to monitor the official responses and reserves its rights to approach the competent authorities, audit authorities, environmental forums, the National Green Tribunal and the High Court of Kerala, wherever legally warranted by the facts and evidence,” the notice sent through advocate Santhosh T S said.
(PTI News)
